Police Say Intern Was Slain, But They Do Not Know How

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

Published: May 29, 2002

WASHINGTON, May 28—
The police said today that Chandra Ann Levy was murdered but that they did not know how.

The skeletal remains of Ms. Levy, a 24-year-old Washington intern, were found in a park here last week, more than a year after she disappeared. The medical examiner's determination that she had been killed was based less on evidence from the remains than on where her body was found and the fact that she had vanished. The conclusion has set off a full-scale homicide investigation.

But the inability to pinpoint the cause of death also raised questions about whether the police had bungled the case and if the trail had run too cold to catch the killer.

The remains of Ms. Levy, who was romantically linked with Representative Gary A. Condit, Democrat of California, were found last week in Rock Creek Park by a man hunting for turtles with his dog not far from where the police had searched for the body last year.

Dr. Jonathan Arden, the District of Columbia's chief medical examiner, said there was not sufficient evidence to say definitively what had caused Ms. Levy's death. But he added, ''The circumstances of her disappearance and her discovery, having been secluded in the park, and taking in account the personal effects that were found at the scene allows me to conclude her death was a homicide.'' He declined to say what was found.

The determination came on the day when hundreds of people attended a memorial service for Ms. Levy in her hometown of Modesto, Calif.

Charles H. Ramsey, the Washington police chief, insisted today that his department's investigation, spearheaded by the two detectives who have been on the case all along, would catch the killer.

''We will solve this case, I guarantee you that,'' he told reporters.

He said detectives would probably reinterview Mr. Condit and interview Ingmar Guandique, a 20-year-old Washington man who is serving a 10-year sentence for assaulting two female joggers in the park near where Ms. Levy's remains were found. The police had not named anyone a suspect before because there was no evidence of a crime, but now that the case has been labeled a homicide those questioned will be read their rights and could be considered suspects.

''We're taking this investigation from a fresh perspective, now that we know we have a murder,'' Chief Ramsey said.

The passage of time poses several challenges. For example, Chief Ramsey said it was impossible to determine whether Ms. Levy had been killed where her remains were found or whether her body had been dumped there.

Michael J. Palladino, a homicide detective for the New York City Police Department and a specialist in ''cold cases,'' said there were a number of steps the Washington police would probably take.

First, he said, would be to find people with a motive. For that reason, he said, he would zero in on Mr. Condit and question him thoroughly in an attempt to rule him out as a possibility.

The police might also examine similar cases, set up a hot line, alert detectives in surrounding areas to debrief their prisoners, offer reward money and interview Ms. Levy's boyfriends, girlfriends and co-workers.